The Once and Future Kitten
by SherlockianGirl
Summary: When Merlin inadvertently speaks a spell in his sleep, he wakes up to find himself the be-scarfed kitten of the once and future king of Camelot.
1. In Which Merlin Sleep Talks

Merlin slammed the book shut and wrinkled his nose in disappointment. It was useless. There were no spells for ridding his life of bothersome, self-important princes with tedious agendas for their considerably less self-important servants.

The day had already been a long one, with Merlin racing from one end of the castle to the other on errands for Gaius combined with chores for Arthur. The prince had ridden off with a company for an overnight hunt, but this had not stopped him from assigning his servant a long list of duties to be completed by his return. Merlin rubbed his eyes wearily. Typical royal prat.

Collapsing back onto his pillow, Merlin's thoughts flitted over the possibilities of what an anti-chore spell would sound like. His sleepy mind grasped at strings of words that could work, but gradually ceased as his eyes fluttered shut.

_"Ic the bebiode…thaet thu wrixle. . .catt." _

There would come a time, in the very near future, when Merlin would regret talking in his sleep.

* * *

The sun spilled across the bed in a ray of warmth, and Merlin instinctively stretched out to soak it in. He opened one eye lazily and squinted. Since when did his bed get so _big?_

"_Mer_-lin!" Gaius called from the other room, drawing his name out in an impatient tone.

Merlin squeezed both eyes shut and continued to bask in the sunlight, a faint rumbling coming from deep within his throat.

"_Merlin!"_

The rumbling increased at the sound of the familiar voice.

"For the last time-" The door flew open to reveal Gaius, mouth agape and eyes growing wider by the second. "Don't. Move."

Merlin yawned, and stretched again before blinking awake. "Gaius, I know it's late-"

"Merlin…"

"But yesterday was rather tiring-"

"Listen to me_._"

"And I-"

"Merlin, you're a _kitten_."

"-Just wanted to slee—wait. _What?" _

"You're a kitten. You were purring up a storm when I came in."

Merlin's eyes widened as he caught sight of what were now little black paws where his hands had been only hours before. He let out a squeak and scrunched himself backward, continuing to scrunch right off the side of the bed.

Gaius caught the little black ball of fur. "Calm down, Merlin. There's nothing to—Well, well!"

The kitten's eyes were wide with panic. "What? _What?"_

The old man's face creased into a wide smile. "Aren't you _adorable._ Look, you still have your little red scarf on, Merlin. And you're just a widdle fluffball, aren't you, kitty kitty?"

"Gaius."

"Can you meow?"

"Quit it."

Gaius poked Merlin's nose. "Bet you can't, kitty."

Merlin glared up at his mentor. "Mrrreww."

Gaius threw his head back and laughed. "Well, if that isn't something!"

Merlin twitched a whisker, then managed to wriggle free and jump back onto the bed. "This isn't funny! Don't you know what's happened?"

Gaius shrugged. "Magic. Sorcery. Witchcraft. Necromancy. Black magic. Enchantment…"

"Thank you, Gaius."

"…charmed. Hexed. Jinxed…"

"YES, I KNOW."

"…the occult. The supernatural. A spell. Wizardry most foul…"

Merlin gave him a steely glare. "Mrewww."

The old man stopped and chuckled. "Fine. But the question is, do you still have your powers?"

Merlin muttered to himself, his blue eyes flashing to a glowing gold.

Gaius blinked. "What did you just do?"

"I moved my chair."

"What chair?"

"My—" Merlin perched himself on the edge of the bed and peered down at the floor. "Oh, great."

Gaius followed his gaze. "You turned your chair into a pile of daisies."

The kitten's eyes scanned the room, then lit up gold once more.

Gaius folded his arms. "And now you've turned your pillow into an avalanche of daisies."

The kitten hissed.

"Calm down, Merlin. Try again."

Merlin mewed a command, his feline gaze fixed intently upon the doorway arch.

"Gracious, Merlin. That's quite impressive."

The kitten yowled, digging his claws into his blanket. "I just turned the doorway into a _rainbow_."

"That spouts daisies," the old man added.

"MRRREARRRRR!" screeched the small cat. "Why won't it work?"

Gaius cocked an eyebrow. "Perhaps your cute kitten ways are required to produce cute kitten magic."

Merlin had begun to totter about the bed, pacing on all four paws. "This can't be happening."

A sharp knock suddenly echoed through the main room. Gaius stopped halfway toward answering the door. "Yes, who is it?"

"Prince Arthur, on a quest to find my very _late _manservant."

Merlin let out a small sound. A sound very much resembling, "Eep."


	2. In Which Arthur Learns a Lesson

Merlin's eyes darted toward the rainbow that was now arching over the door to his room. It wasn't an easy thing to explain how a meteorological phenomenon came to grace the inside of one's home, and he was certain that Arthur would report the strange sight to his father.

Uther hated rainbows.

The same idea had apparently occurred to Gaius, who froze midway to the door and glanced back at the kitten. At the exact same moment, the Prince got tired of waiting and burst upon the scene.

"Right, then. Where's Merlin?" Arthur snapped, folding his arms across his chest and fixing Gaius with a hard look.

"Mrrrrrewwwwwwww!" came a forcible meow from across the room, followed by a soft _galumph! _from the doorway behind Gaius.

"Ye gods, are those _daisies_?" the Prince scoffed, leaning to peer around Gaius' shoulder.

The old man turned around, then slowly faced back forward. "It would appear so, sire."

"What are they for?"

"Supper."

"There's a whole _mountain_ of them."

"We're very hungry."

Arthur blinked. "Wait, you said you _eat _them?"

Gaius pursed his lips. He needed to keep the Prince distracted as long as possible. "Em…yes. In soup."

"Daisy _soup_?"

Gaius smiled. "And sometimes we deep fry them."

"That's ridiculous."

"And Merlin likes to make little daisy chains with them when he's bored."

Arthur choked on his laughter. "Ha! Daisy chains! What, for Gwen? Or Morgana?"

"No, for his stuffed animals. They have little tea parties together."

Arthur threw his head back and laughed, whilst a deep growl came from the pile of flowers across the room.

Arthur straightened immediately. "Tell me, Gaius, did your daisies just snarl at me?"

"I do not know, sire. I have not known them to be vicious."

"Wait. Look, there!" the Prince pointed, stooping to the ground. "I thought I saw a pair of eyes."

"Perhaps the daisies are mutating."

"Nonsense. Speaking of which, as I asked earlier, where's Merlin?"

Gaius shrugged. "I haven't seen him all day. I thought he had gotten up early to get about his daily work."

The Prince rolled his eyes. "Pssh. Right. The lazy idiot is probably somewhere goofing off. Or bumbling about the castle, knocking things over, accidentally setting things on fire, and burning down Camelot in the process. Shouldn't take too long to find him," Arthur sniffed pretentiously, swaggering about the room. "Just find the next source of chaos and there we'll find Merlin."

"_MREAAARRRRRRRR_!" A black streak of fur shot out from beneath the pile of daisies and latched itself onto Arthur's leg, before beginning to claw its way up.

"Dear God, what is that? What is it? Ack! Ack!" Arthur flailed about the room, trying to release the kitten's clawed hold on his knee. "Sword! Where is my sword? Get off me, you little idiot!"

At that word, the cat dug his claws in deeper and sunk his tiny teeth into the Prince's leg.

"ARGHHH! It's a kitten! A _demonic kitten_!" yelped Arthur, swatting at the ball of fur attached to him.

Gaius chuckled from where he had settled in to watch. "Don't call him names. Apologize and I'm sure he'll let go."

"It's a _cat_!" Arthur retorted. "And an _idiot _one at that for picking a fight with _me_!"

Merlin hissed and scrambled up to furiously bat Arthur's face with his paws.

"EAAAARGHHHH! He's hitting me! Bad kitty! _Dead _kitty!" Arthur's hand grasped desperately for anything with which to knock the beastie off. A second later, he was grasping a glass bottle and swinging it toward its target.

The kitten's eyes flashed gold in an instant.

The Prince sputtered, flailing about. "Gah! Damn daisies!" Temporarily blinded, he stumbled backward and hit the far wall before crashing to the floor with a thud.

Merlin released his claws from Arthur's nose and bounced to the floor with a short, "Mrrew" before trotting across the room toward Gaius. He planted himself at the old man's feet and began to purr contentedly to himself.

Arthur sprang to his feet, fixing the triumphant kitten with a steely glare. "I'll end you, insolent cat."

Merlin purred louder.

The Prince poked a gloved finger in the kitten's face. "Watch it, fuzzball. The next time I see you, you'll regret it. Do you hear me, cat?"

Merlin blinked. Then hacked up a hairball.


End file.
